SEMINAR REPOT

ON

WINNING IN A GLOBAL MARKET: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TRAINING FOR SKILLS

REQUIRED TO BE EFFECTIVE IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Presented by
MUHAMMAD SHAHNAWAZ
2008-ag-43

SUPERVISOR
SIR YAWAR ABBAS

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
FAISALABAD
MBA, 2010
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TRAINING
There is no longer a doubt that we live in a world of transformations, affecting almost every aspect of
what we do. For better or worse, we have been propelled into a global order that no one fully understands, but
which is making its effects felt upon all of us. globalization, is "the unavoidable integration of markets, nation-
states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before - in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations
and nation-states to reach around the world faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before" Today, the global
marketplace, is much more developed than even two or three decades ago, and is indifferent to national borders.
Indeed the dynamism of todays marketplace calls for managers with diverse skills .
Internationalization has become a corporate necessity because today businesses "are beginning to
realize that the firm that isnt thinking in terms of international trade should start thinking about going out of
business" From a marketing context, the challenge has been one of "restructuring domestic marketing operations
to compete internationally in larger, more disparate markets" . Appropriate training programs are required to
meet the skill needs within a globally competitive environment; many organizations have prioritized employee-
training efforts and have "placed skill and labour needs alongside product and service development" Any
company involved in cross-border trade needs to keep its staff continually updated, both in terms of the skills
needed to do their jobs and to further their careers .Caution must be taken to ensure that training remains
appropriate, because "training for trainings sake" offers little potential, and in order for training "to be effective,
it must be focused "
The Training in International Marketing Skills

This study used the traditional four Ps of marketing, and added planning, as skill categories: (1) planning and
operational skills; (2) pricing skills; (3) product skills; (4) distribution skills (place), and (5) promotion skills.

Planning and Operational Skills

Skill 1. Ability to Conduct a Global Competitive Analysis
Technology and intense competition create rapid changes in competitive offerings which result in the critical
need for a rapid response. This may only be made possible when rapid competitive scanning abilities are
developed within the firm.
Skill 2. Ability to Design a Management Information System
"Firms that are capable of learning and disseminating knowledge faster than their competitors will achieve
superior performance "
Skill 3. Ability to Develop Insights Concerning Foreign Individual and Group Buying Behaviors
A skillful marketer has keen insight into individual and group behavior, can foresee changes in behavior, which
develop in a dynamic world, and has the capacity to visualize the probable response of consumers, trade, and
competitors to marketing activities
Skill 4. Ability to Assess International Marketing Training Needs
"In order to effectively deal abroad, expatriates have to understand business and cultural practices" which
underscores the importance of the ability to assess international marketing training and support needs.
Skill 5. Ability to Adapt to Foreign Business Practices and Protocol
the demand increases for quality work around the globe, cultural fluency skills will play a vital role in the
administrative capacity to work anywhere to meet those demands.
Skill 6. Ability to Communicate Clearly With Others When English is Not Their First Language
Successful firms in the global arena will be companies whose employees "have the ability to communicate
effectively with international counterparts"" use English as the key language in international business"
Skill 7. Ability to Speak a Foreign Language
The ability to speak the language of the foreign market . Language skills for the countries where business will be
conducted "provides insight into the social organization and values of those who speak it"
Skill 8. Ability to Analyze Foreign Market Shares
The ability to analyze existing foreign market financial and share position with future expectations is an essential
skill in international marketing because it "is used to help determine whether the firm should expand, contract, or
eliminate operations in a particular country"
Skill 9. Ability to Assess Foreign Market Legal Environment Implications
It is vital to develop the ability to analyze foreign market legal environments because "there are as many
different legal environments as there are countries
Skill 10. Ability to Analyze Import/Export Government Regulations (Costs/Risks)
Government regulations can quickly change, .which requires that firms develop the continuous ability to assess
implications, because strategies based on import government regulation advantages "
Skill 11 Ability to Analyze Human Resource Tasks & Design Appropriate Organizational Structure
Because the global marketing environment is very dynamic and complex, an international marketer needs to
develop skills in looking at strengths and weaknesses.
Skil 12. Ability to Segment International Markets
Market fragmentation requires that much more effort needs to be dedicated to locating consumers and defining
their needs, which makes niche marketing a reality even for fairly large brands and services
Skill 13. Ability to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your International Marketing Activities
The use of a marketing audit gives the firm "valuable suggestions for increasing its marketing effectiveness and
efficiency" which Cram concurs will lead to higher performance

Pricing Skills
Skill 14. Ability to Set Overall Pricing for International Markets
The ability to develop effective pricing programs for product-line portfolios is essential to superior performance
because "pricing policy tactical competitive weapon
Skill 15. Ability to Forecast Profits and Revenue Related to International Markets
An important skill is to plan sales revenue around profits, with the objective being "to plan product mixes,
customer mixes, and marketing mixes to achieve profitable volume and market shares at levels of risk that are
acceptable"
Skill 16. Ability to Use Appropriate Trade Financing Programs
Tremendous cost savings opportunities exist by way of resources readily available from sources external to the
firm.

Product Skills
Skill 17. Ability to Assess Suitability of Your Products to Foreign Markets
The ability to analyze product and service alternatives is a vital skill The "future consumers will be the best
informed consumers to date" which will require "that during the time that companies are enjoying the benefits of
an innovation [product]
Skill 18. Ability to Devise International Branding Strategies
International branding strategies involve decisions regarding whether or not a product brand name or logo will
be uniform across more than one market or country

Distribution Skills
Skill 19. Ability to Use Appropriate Foreign Market Entry Alternatives
The international marketing arena is characterized by several distinctive entry modes, each offering different
benefits and costs to the firm.
Skill 20. Ability to Select, Recruit, Compensate, and Manage an International Sales Force
Due to intensifying international competition and other factors, restructuring is required which "imposes two
major demands on corporations: accountability for performance in order to survive and organizational flexibility
to adapt to chaotic change"
Skill 21. Ability to Balance Between Distribution Efficiency and Distribution Effectiveness
With the emergence of just-in-time marketing (JITM), great emphasis is placed on the ability to gear marketing
operations to the time requirements of just-in-time production standards of the customer, and "encourage
continuous flow rather than stockpiling of inventories
Promotion Skills
Skill 22. Select Appropriate Promotional Mix
The question of designing an optimal promotional mix requires that "the export/international marketer needs to
have guidelines for selecting which activities to use and in which combinations"
Skill 23. Ability to Select Appropriate International Advertising Agency
A number of alternatives are available, such as using a local domestic agency, a company-owned agency, a
multinational agency with local branches, or individual agencies in each country; therefore the "task of selecting
and maintaining international advertising agencies is not easy"

Conclusion
The results are most meaningful when applied to marketing training programs to companies who are
actively engaged in exporting. These companies will probably be hesitant to participate in training programs
related to areas where they perceive they already possess what they consider to be "adequate" skills. This means
that emphasis should be placed on why "adequate" levels of skills in international marketing are no longer
acceptable, especially in a competitive global economy. The advertising emphasis when marketing these types of
training programs to small and medium-sized actively exporting companies should be placed on the importance
of updating international marketing skills; that what is considered to be "adequate" today, may not be considered
to be "adequate" tomorrow.
Small and medium-sized actively exporting companies perceived the promotional skill category to be their most
deficient.. Respondents from exporting companies perceived none of the promotional skills among their
strongest. However, half of their weakest skills overall were promotional skills.